1709th day of the war. Address of Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Ukrainians

Dear Ukrainians, today the Russians launched very cruel strikes on Dnipro, Chernihiv, and Kremenchuk, on civilians, on ordinary people. In these three cities alone, 19 people died from the strikes today. My condolences to the relatives and loved ones. Dozens of people are wounded. In Dnipro, a Russian Shahed hit the station. People were waiting for a train on the regular Dnipro-Zaporizhzhia route. In Chernihiv, there was a strike right in the city center. Two girls died. Yana and Maria were 15 years old.

Kremenchuk is in the Poltava region. The Russians struck the city territory, right among ordinary houses. From this strike alone, 6 children and 26 adults were wounded. Three people died. Towards the evening, there were strikes on Dnipro again. Throughout the day, there were strikes in the Donetsk, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions. A demonstration of Russian cruelty. They do this deliberately, when everyone expects there to be de-escalation steps. Russia is showing how it actually views everything.

Today, leaders of countries and many public leaders expressed their condolences to Ukraine, to Ukrainians. My thanks to them. It is important that this is not limited to condolences. A fair approach to Ukraine and Russia is needed. Support for Ukraine is needed. Pressure on Russia is needed. Yesterday we had a strong decision from Britain. I want to thank Prime Minister Barney. Ukraine is receiving an additional 10 billion pounds over the next three years.

A very strong decision. I also spoke with the Prime Minister about the need for new sanctions against Russia. There is a decision by the Netherlands in support of Ukraine. We agreed on this yesterday with Prime Minister Etten. Thank you, Rob. It was a serious meeting. We expect that there will be further steps. And also regarding air defense for Ukraine. In the coming days, we continue working with our partners to strengthen our defense capabilities. We will need packages. I thank our partners who react truly promptly for this.

But it is important that America does not remain silent about the killings. This is very important, as they continue constantly.

We, of course, are doing everything to ensure a humanitarian operation in Oleshky. And Ukrainian forces are maintaining silence. And it is necessary that humanitarian aspects are felt not only in one section of the front. And we must act in such a way, reverse the situation in such a way, that Russia goes toward de-escalation, so that this concerns our entire country. Not only Oleshky.

A few more things. I held a headquarters meeting today. The key issue was countering Russian ballistics, insufficient sanctions pressure, and the need for packages from partners, which we spoke with them about. And if we take the key jurisdictions, then real sanctions can significantly limit, not immediately, but over time. Sometimes this requires months of work. The longer the sanctions packages against ballistics are delayed, the longer Russia has supply schemes for the necessary production. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine must accelerate this work with our partners.

Additional tasks were identified for long-range sanctions, which work significantly faster. Regarding this, for now without public details, but everyone could see these weeks that Ukrainian long-range capability is having results. There was just a report; we carried out two missile strikes, two Russian Su-34s were destroyed, as well as an Iskander launcher. Thank you, boys, for the result.

Another aspect of our anti-ballistic work is interceptor packages, primarily for Patriots, which partners can provide us. They need to protect lives. Now there is intelligence information about the preparation of new ballistic strikes by the Russians, and forces are needed to shoot down all this Russian evil. We are waiting for the corresponding decisions.

I want to thank everyone who truly helps us. Please, I ask you, take care of yourselves. Glory to Ukraine!